by Neil Hawkes
God is not always loving
Or lovely
God is love
Only through terrible pain
Can love come
Into the world
A world that is not evil but wracked
With its own imperfection
For only Love can be perfect
In such striving comes great loss
But Love comes to grief with us
As has been shown
In your pain
You are love and loss personified so
Of all the world, most precious to Love
Therefor love yourselves as you can
Love requires
No other
— Neil Hawkes lives in Auckland, New Zealand
